Neither France nor the US has learned from the Afghanistan War that aerial warfare won’t defeat al Qaeda – certainly not when they are highly-trained in special forces tactics and backed by mobile, well-armed local militias with advanced anti-aircraft weapons. Those militias are Touareg tribesmen, trained and armed by the US as a spearhead against al Qaeda in Africa, who instead defected to the enemy.

The Algerian hostage disaster was the outcome of French anti-terror intervention in Mali which in turn developed from the messy ending of the Libyan war. By carrying out two counter terror operations – in Somali and Mali – on one day, France and the US brought together the most dangerous al Qaeda franchise for a common war front.

Muammar Qaddafi and his sons have raised a new army of 12,000 soldiers - all fighters of loyal Touareg tribes of the Sahara, debkafile’s military sources report.

Saturday, Sept. 24, Libyan rebel troops reportedly clashed with his diehards after entering the town of Sirte from the west. Two thousand kilometers to the south, in Niger, the ousted Libyan ruler won a guarantee of protection and alliance from the Touareg tribal council and their declaration of war on his enemies.